Maus Haus: House-Rules for Elementary Schoolers As promised, a follow-up post on my house-rules for playing Mausritter with my elementary-age children, derived from negotiating with my ki...

Our Haus rules for playing Mausritter with young kids: derived via negotiation with my elementary schoolers, at great cost. dreamshrike.blogspot.com/2026/04/maus...

The Play Reports Blue Prince is a Depth Crawl

Added a post for the Map Blogwagon by @prismaticwasteland.com. This one's all about DEPTH CRAWLS, specifically looking at @soulmuppet.co.uk's The Stygian Library and @blueprincegame.bsky.social!

#blog #ttrpg #rpg #crawls #blogwagon

theplayreports.com/posts/blue-p...

How to simply make random hex maps that look like beautiful real world maps: bravo! Terrain clusters and everything.

Best line: “The most important ingredient is love.”

This looks neat! An expansion and adaptation of my Middle-earth Hexcrawl crafting rules - now, for YOUR dungeon fantasy game.

Is there any way to stop mobile iOS @discord.com from resetting my place when I scroll back up a discussion a full day and stop to read a link? I feel like Sisyphus.

Elmcat hard at work winning the bloggies again…which they are constitutionally barred from doing! Nice try, and great lingo—really makes for a working vocabulary of running a game. Instant classic!

This work exceptionally well in Mausritter and Root lol.

Null space booklet

Null space gig work packet

NULL_SPACE physicals are here! The basic rules are a square-bound stapled booklet, while GIG_WORK; is a little folio containing four Jobs.

(links downthread)

Possessed. Stolen. Waiting.

A hoard is full of hoary old things. A horde can be made hors de combat.

Wonderful! What else are you eyeing for them?

So glad you liked it and my apologies it took so long! That was a great roundup.

For all those RPG folks who play woth young kids out there, please benefit from my mistakes: dreamshrike.blogspot.com/2026/04/maus...

Shiny TTRPG links #271 - fascinating glimmers from now and before

seedofworlds.blogspot.com/2026/04/shin...

#ttrpg #osr #dnd #diyrpg

I made a blogpost about this. Indonesian Tabletop RPG scene and The Quest for Generic "Authentic" Slop.

The Indonesian Tabletop RPG scene has a Gen AI problem!

afraidofencounters.bearblog.dev/afraid-of-co...

This isn’t always obvious if you’re running an adventure module or or playing a game with lots of good tables for procedural generation, but that just means someone else did the prep for you. It still had to be done.

Rules light ≠ prep light

The Play Reports Designing Location Blocks

Taking inspiration from the idea of Lore Blocks by @explorersdesign.bsky.social and talking deeply about Location Blocks in the Blogosphere!!

theplayreports.com/posts/locati...

#ttrpg #rpg #blog #design #layout

It's done. 10k words covering everything I know about how to make RPGs, from your first idea to getting the book on the shelf. It's not perfect but I hope it helps someone. brackish-draught.bearblog.dev/everything-i...

I like this. Reminds me of the numerous times I've said, "You don't need cantrips if you let wizardos do interesting things."

Tieing that to memorized spells is a good take.

Every last one of my ttrpg blogging blorbos should apply to be a part of the rootr.ing. do it Now.

A lie-flat board with a place to play cards and player-facing rules references for HIS MAJESTY THE WORM

A lie-flat board with a place to play cards and GM-facing rules references for HIS MAJESTY THE WORM

If we reach 999 backers (only 121 to go!) we will unlock and produce WORM divination boards!

These would be offered as a discounted add-on for early worms!

They're like a GM screen, but show information instead of hiding it—each board is full of reference material for the four phases of play.

Circuit Crawls WF over at Prismatic Wasteland called for a blog bandwagon back in February to discuss the topic of maps. I perseverated for a while about whether I had anyt...

Been a little while! Put together an essay about how to use circuit design principles to think about pointcrawls in #osr and adventure games.

tbr.bearblog.dev/circuit-craw...

THE KNIGHT ERRANT: EXPANDED EDITION'S PHYSICAL EDITION IS OUT NOW! The first Indonesian Tabletop RPG product published internationally!

www.copypastecoop.com/shop/p/the-k...

Thank you @davidblandyrpgs.bsky.social, @daniellocke.bsky.social, Copy/Paste Co-op as our publisher!

#osr #tabletoprpg

Death, the discovered country (LoF, part 6) In role-playing games, how to deal with the ultimate failure , death?  There are plenty of ways to punish players for lesser failures, and ...

In RPGs, how to deal with the ultimate failure, death? I love both the deadliness of the N/OSR and the character investment in trad games like 5e. This post is about how I put those two things together, and designed a different way to die in RPGs.

dreamshrike.blogspot.com/2026/03/deat...

Your post is now linked!

Oh just realized I should ask you if you want to comment on the post directly? I think the benefit of choice is a nice addendum and it’s your idea. Choice is key to creating a unique thing about your character, but it also explains DnD and Traveller character investment neatly.

Interesting! I get invested in my Pirate Borg chars with enough random/choice tables, but I think choice is the right insight! I may edit to emphasize that: if given the two options, I prefer to roll on a table to start, then choose if I don’t like that roll.

As for ptba, it’s on my list to try!

Making PCs care about failing (LoF, part 3) Let’s talk about fear of failure and player investment, in both traditional and OSR games.  This was originally intended to be one post on b...

Oh and on death, love your post. I I am going to link your take (I feel the same, I think many do) to my post on how to get trad and OSR players to care about failing, earlier in the series:

dreamshrike.blogspot.com/2026/02/land...

Agree, dark fantasy fits! I run grounded high fantasy in two games and those are close cousins. I think of the Horror less as a genre and more of something terrible I inflict on the party. Like a vampire, I just need permission…

Fear hooks and the Quantum Horror (LoF, part 5) Tempting, dangerous choices, clear rewards with unpleasant surprises–that is the key to helping PCs to simultaneously feel fear and agency, ...

Strahd is the ultimate quantum ogre. This week, I write about the problem of the Quantum Horror and how I solve it for adventure games.
dreamshrike.blogspot.com/2026/03/fear...